October 2012, What’s New

The Official ACCUPLACER
study app, designed by
the College Board, helps
students prepare for the
ACCUPLACER test
from the convenience of their iPhones.
Subjects include Arithmetic, Elementary
Algebra, College-Level Math, Reading
Comprehension, and Sentence Skills.

The latest version
of Adobe Revel is
now available. The
photography app
combines powerful and intuitive organizing
and editing tools with a cloud technology
designed for photos. New features include
the ability to sync albums between devices,
sharing albums on the Web, the ability to
add captions, and an easier-to-use, more
intuitive, user interface.

The latest
version of Alloy
Navigator Express
includes several
enhancements
to the help
desk and asset management solution.
Administrators can take advantage
of business process automation,
announcements, changing history alerts,
and automatic ticket routing, all through a
redesigned, self-service portal.

Cengage Learning has announced that
its Analyzing Elections modules are
now available through Aplia, a course
management and student engagement
solution. The modules help students
explore presidential elections and
connect course concepts with events
surrounding the U.S. election. The
modules—Campaign, Public Opinion,
Media, Voting, Political Parties, and
Presidential—promote critical thinking
skills to help students make informed
political decisions.

Awesome
Upstanders! is
the first, all-ages,
anti-bullying
game. It teaches
kids how to
respect and protect others, and how to
intervene in a bullying situation, with fun
graphics and game play. Players race through
their school to rescue a friend from a bully,
collecting other friends along the way.

Brain Hive, LLC,
has announced
that its ondemand
eBook
lending service
is now available
online, with unlimited access. Students and
educators may check out eBooks from Brain
Hive on demand, while the school pays just
$1 for each book circulated.

Pearson has released Concussion Vital
Signs, a comprehensive, online concussion
management platform that allows for
testing, reporting, and athlete roster
management. The tool offers schools and
coaches a way
to ensure player
safety and make
informed “back-to-play” decisions, based
on comparisons of pre- and post-injury
neurocognitive tests.

Curriki, a K-12
global community
for creating,
sharing, and
finding open
learning resources,
launched its free Algebra 1 course, which
addresses each of the Algebra 1 Common
Core State Standards. The projectbased
modular course engages students
through real-world examples, engaging
projects, interactive web 2.0 tools, videos
and targeted feedback. Developed with
funding from AT&T, Curriki Algebra 1 is
modular so it can be used as a supplement,
as the foundation for students’ Algebra 1
curriculum, in an after-school program, or
in a homeschool environment.

DreamBox
Learning Math
has expanded its
Common Core
State Standardsaligned
K-5 math curriculum, adding 120
lessons for grades 4-5. The program now
includes more than 720 lessons that provide
instruction, assessment, and practice
using interactive virtual manipulatives.
DreamBox Learning also expanded its
reporting features to provide teachers
with even more timely and actionable
information about individual student
comprehension of specific concepts culled
from the DreamBox Intelligent Adaptive
Learning engine.

The new, free,
EduCore digital
tool helps teachers
implement the Common Core State
Standards in mathematics and literacy. The
tool is a repository of evidence-based strategies,
videos, and supporting documents
that help schools transition to the CCSS. It
includes a variety of formative assessment
lessons and videos, along with over 20
formative assessment mathematics lessons.
In the coming months, ASCD will add additional
mathematics formative assessment
lessons and sample literacy modules.

With
FundingFactory’s
new online goaltracking
and
reporting features,
K-12 and higher
education institutions
can set objectives for fundraising and
sustainability, and share with parents,
community members and businesses to
garner more support. FundingFactory is a
100-percent free fundraising-by-recycling
program for schools and nonprofits, in
which participants exchange electronic
waste for cash or new technology.

Mimio has released
“Get Out the Vote,”
a series of teachercreated,
K-12 lesson
ideas hosted at the
MimioConnect Web
site. The lesson plans
cover social studies topics like citizenship,
government characteristics, civic
participation, and democracy. Each lesson
has built-in assessment questions.

Hitachi
America’s new
Projector Quick
Connection
iPad app enables
users to monitor
and control multiple Hitachi projectors
from a single iPad. Selecting the Projector
page brings up an icon for every Hitachi
projector connected to the iPad, with
each projector’s IP address listed with the
corresponding icon. Users can connect to
any of them at any time by simply clicking
the corresponding icon. Projectors must
be equipped with a USB wireless adaptor
to connect to the iPad.

iStopMotion
for the Mac
makes it
possible for
users of all skill
and age levels
to create stop motion animations. The
latest release turns iPhones, iPads or iPod
touches into versatile HD cameras using
its free iStopMotion Remote Camera
app. New features include a new user
interface optimized for Apple’s Retina
display, enhanced app security through
sandboxing and signed DeveloperID, Final
Cut Pro X integration, Mac Mountain
Lion OS X 10.8 compatibility, and the
consolidation of all previous iStopMotion
versions, including the ability to create
HD movies.

Follett has sponsored
a new Web site,
K12DigitalDecisions.
com. The resource
helps educators and
districts navigate the
eReader highway,
and is designed
to helps school administrators find the
information that will help them create the
best digital strategy customized to their
specific needs.

McGraw-Hill
Higher Education
has created an
“academic personal
tutor,” McGraw-
Hill LearnSmart,
which helps students study “smarter.” The
program uses a Netflix-like recommendation
engine to tailor studying based on a student’s
current knowledge. It continuously assesses
students’ skills and provides personalized
recommendations that help them gain and
retain knowledge of core concepts.

Backupify has launched Migrator for
Google Apps, an easy-to-use cloud
migration tool that allows administrators
to move
data from
one Google
Apps user
account to
another in the
same domain or across different domains.
Migrator transfers all Gmail, Google
Calendar, Google Contacts, and Google
Drive documents from one Google Apps
account to another, while retaining all
labels, permissions and sharing settings.
The app can also manage bulk migrations
from multiple users at once.

Following Apple’s announcement of
the new iOS6, Lightspeed Systems has
released an update to the company’s
Mobile Device
Management
(MDM)
solution. The updated MDM will be
compatible and support all the new
features in iOS6. Updates to the MDM
solution that support the new iOS6
include: blocking access to the game
center; blocking access to the bookstore or
the bookstore erotica category; disabling
the photo stream; support for the new
global proxy; and single app mode. With
these new features, Lightspeed Systems’
MDM solution is able to provide Apple
iPad users a safe, filtered mobile learning
experience.

Paragon Software
Group has
launched a free,
educational
program to
introduce teachers
in Russia and the CIS, as well as schools that
include Russian as a foreign language, to
methods of foreign language instruction that
use information technology. The “Modern
Teacher’s Dictionary” project begins with
the distribution of free, licensed copies of
acclaimed best-selling Slovoed Deluxe
dictionaries to all teachers in qualifying
regions who apply to the program.

Knovation’s
latest version
of netTrekker
Search
streamlines
the ease of accessability to use CCSSaligned
digital resources, helping teachers
differentiate search results and choose
the best resources to address a variety of
student needs. Additionally, the redesigned
interface allows teachers to save, organize,
and share digital resources.

Odysseyware
has added 23
new Career
and Technical
Education
(CTE) courses
to its online 2012-13 curriculum. The
courses are tied to national career pathway
standards, and support the acquisition of
core academic skills, employability skills,
and job-specific technical skills. The courses
support three CTE career clusters: Business
Management and Administration; Health
Science; and Hospitality and Tourism.

Pano Logic has
announced a new
software release
that links modern,
cloud-based
computing with
legacy terminal services resources, making
it easier to migrate to the cloud. Pano
Logic’s core technology now enables Pano
Zero Clients to function as endpoints for
any form of server-hosted desktop, ranging
from full, virtualized Windows desktops to
Microsoft and Citrix terminal services, and
even to browser-based cloud desktops.

Tribal Nova, in collaboration with PBS,
has added new lessons and administrative
tools to the PBS KIDS PLAY! Classroom
Edition. PBS KIDS PLAY! is an adaptive,
online learning program that uses
interactive
games and
content to
engage students
in preschool,
kindergarten,
and first-grade classrooms. The crosscurricular
program adapts the level of
challenge based on students’ individual
learning progress in 35 skill areas. The
content aligns to Common Core State
Standards and McREL Benchmarks.

Naiku’s solution for
BYOD initiatives,
Quick Question,
works on any Webenabled
device and
allows teachers to get immediate responses
to Yes/No, True/False, Multiple Choice,
and Free Response questions as well as Exit
Tags. Quick Question can be used as a daily
formative assessment tool, or as a tool to
increase student engagement.

The new MyView
feature within
the Schoolwires
Centricity2 content
management
system acts as a personal portal, letting
students, teachers and parents select the
district and school Web site content they
want to view. Gadgets collect and display
the requested information and users can
add, change, and rearrange the information
as often as they like. My View also includes
a “Planner” to manage calendars, and the
ability for parents to add a “tab” for each
child to organize information.

Aspire Public Schools, a
California-based charter
management organization,
is now offering its
student performance
analysis application to all schools across
the country for free. The Schoolzilla
Assessment Explorer helps administrators
translate data into easy to understand
reports to drive data-drive instruction.

Shmoop’s
free Learning
Guides get
students into
back-to-school-mode by covering a wide
variety of subjects such as literature,
economics, biology, and algebra. For
students who are preparing for college,
Shmoop offers test prep diagnostics for the
reading, writing, and math portions of the
SAT, PSAT and ACT exams. Students can
also get ready for college with the College
101, Career Guide, and Financial Literacy
reference tools.

Archipelago
Learning,
a PLATO
Learning
company,
has launched
a new Web site and user interface for
Study Island, a Web-based instruction,
practice, and learning program built
from individual state and Common Core
standards. The new public Web site
features more detailed information for
educators, including subpages dedicated
to state-specific standards., Study Island’s
new site offers information searchable by
state, grade level, and content area.

The StudyBlue app
is now available for
the iPad. Students
can use the free app
to search, create, and study flashcards and
notes with their iPads. The app also allows
students to re-study concepts, using Study
Filters to personalize the process.

Tales2Go Unveils
Desktop Version

Tales2Go, a provider of streaming audio
books for kids, released a desktop version
of its award-winning subscription service
and mobile app. Educators and students
alike will now have the flexibility to access
thousands of audio books and stories
on desktops and laptops in addition to
Apple mobile devices such as iPads, iPod
Touches, and iPhones. The new desktop
version of Tales2Go adds advanced
multivariable search capability, allowing
students and educators to combine
multiple criteria into one search.

Tyler
Technologies,
Inc. has released
Tyler Incident
Management,
a software solution that helps school
and transportation officials record and
manage school and bus incidents. The
Web-based solution can be installed in
accordance with school districts’ policies
and procedures. Users can create and
search for incidents, run reports, and
modify information as needed.

NewTek (www.newtek.com) has added TriCaster 40 to its family of allin-
one live production systems. The turnkey, desktop video production system
offers a comprehensive set of real-time video production capabilities for under
$5,000. TriCaster 40 integrates video switching, graphics, titles, effects, media
playback, virtual sets, keying, recording, and streaming.

Belkin (www.belkin.com) has released two new,
ergonomic tablet stands that are great for classroom
use. The Belkin Tablet Stand and
Tablet Stand with Storage are both
made of colorful, durable, non-slip material, and
can be tilted at different angles. The Tablet Stand
features a stackable design, while the Tablet Stand
with Storage offers an integrated compartment
where students can place supplies such as ear buds,
device chargers, and pencils under a secure latch.

SparkFun Electronics
(www.sparkfun.com)
has teamed up with two
MIT graduate students,
funded through
Kickstarter, to turn
students into inventors.
MaKey MaKey
(www.makeymakey.com) is an “invention
kit” that encourages
everyone to discover
creative new ways to interact with computers. The kit comes with
the MaKey MaKey board, alligator clips, and a USB cable.

Samsung (www.samsung.com) has released the Galaxy Note 10.1, delivering the
functionality and precision of a pen and paper by combining the S Pen with a 10.1-inch large display.
The tablet comes preloaded with Adobe Photoshop Touch, and introduces a multiscreen feature,
allowing users to operate two different apps side-by-side, simultaneously, on the same screen.

Brainchild (www.brainchild.com)
has released its next generation
Kineo Tablet, featuring an
8-inch, 1024p x 768p screen, 1.3
gHz processor, and 802.11 b/g/n
Wi-Fi. The Kineo Control
Center allows schools to
manage content and settings
on all devices, remotely. Kineos
come loaded with Brainchild’s
Achiever! or Common Core
Standards software.